The present invention relates to a fuel nozzle for a fossil fuel fired combustion arrangement of the type having fossil fuel delivery systems that deliver pulverized coal to coal fired steam generators and more specifically, to a pulverized solid fuel nozzle having a pulverized solid nozzle tip pivotally mounted relative to the pulverized solid nozzle body of the pulverized solid fuel nozzle.
It has long been known in the prior art to employ pulverized solid fuel nozzle tips in firing systems of the type that are utilized in pulverized solid fuel-fired furnaces. U.S. Pat. No. 2,895,435 discloses a tilting nozzle designed to provide substantially uniform distribution of the fuel-air mixture leaving the tilting nozzle and substantially uniform velocity across the discharge opening of the tilting nozzle into the furnace. To this end, the tilting nozzle includes an inner conduit within an outer conduit and a plurality of baffles or division walls within the inner conduit arranged in planes substantially parallel to fluid flow which divide the inner conduit into a multiplicity of parallel channels. U.S. Pat. No. 4,274,343 discloses a fuel-fired admission assembly of the type incorporating a split coal bucket having an upper and a lower coal nozzle pivotally mounted to the coal delivery pipe and independently tiltable of each other. A plate is disposed along the longitudinal axis of the coal delivery pipe with its leading edge oriented across the inlet end of the coal delivery pipe so that that portion of the primary air pulverized coal stream having a high coal concentration enters the coal delivery pipe on one side of the plate and that portion of the primary air-pulverized coal stream having a low coal concentration enters the coal delivery pipe on one side of the plate and that portion of the primary air-pulverized coal stream having a low coal concentration enters the coal delivery pipe on the other side of the plate.
Although the pulverized solid fuel nozzles that form the subject matter of the above-noted U.S. patents have been demonstrated to be operative for their intended purposes, there has nevertheless been evidenced in the prior art a need for such pulverized solid fuel nozzles to be further improved. In this regard, there is a need for an apparatus that permits a straightforward and reliable installation and de-installation of the pivot mounting by which the pulverized solid nozzle tip of a pulverized solid fuel nozzle and the pulverized solid nozzle body of the pulverized solid fuel nozzle are pivotally connected to one another.